The Secret of Kit Cavenaugh by Anne Holland

Author:Anne Holland [Holland, Anne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, Military, Adventurers & Explorers, Historical, History, General, Modern, 17th Century, 18th Century, Europe, Great Britain
ISBN: 9781848898219
Google: bwiWDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Gill & Macmillan Ltd
Published: 2013-10-15T04:11:37+00:00

Richard would have found this part of the march easy; the terrain was similar to that of the previous war and was easy to negotiate, mostly on flat causeways flanked by growing corn or grazing cattle; it was criss-crossed by poplar-lined dykes and occasional rivers, outlying farmsteads and villages.

Each morning camp was struck before dawn and at first light they began marching in three columns, covering 12 to 15 miles until about 9 a.m., when they arrived at their next night’s stop. There, he and his mates invariably found provisions already laid on for them, leaving them at leisure for the rest of the day.

Initial heavy rain gave way to sun and drought as they travelled west, parallel with the Rhine as far as the spa town of Sinzig; from there they remained close beside the Rhine, marching south towards Coblenz. Picturesque villages and apple orchards lined the riverbanks, and above, on the steep-sided hills, the Rhine was guarded by fairytale-like castles. More pretty German girls turned out to cheer them along the tracks that passed for roads. Spirits and morale were high so that the soldiers swung along good temperedly, and when camped for the remains of the day Richard probably joined in with the others. They laughed, swore, drank and joked, enjoying light-hearted banter and the latest rumour-mongering.

Kit enjoyed the stops where various German principalities plied the soldiers with food and beer or wine, as well as fodder for the horses. And they supplied their own troops along the way, too, swelling Marlborough’s army with more German, Danish and Prussian men.

At each of these stops, Marlborough let the particular prince into the secret of where he was really heading. By the end of May, most of them knew the truth, including the King of Prussia – previously the Elector Frederick William II, he was allowed by Vienna to take the title of king in return for his support of the Allies – but it was not until the first week of June that the Dutch States General were finally informed.

As far as the troops were concerned, and even the officers, they still believed their destination to be the Moselle.

On 25 May they reached Coblenz. As she rode towards the city on her grey horse Kit looked in wonder at the two mighty rivers, the Moselle and the Rhine; they dwarfed Dublin’s River Liffey as they embraced this ancient city. She discovered it had once been a Roman settlement, established between 10 and 8 BC. Both rivers had castles towering over them from high up on steep, densely wooded sides. On the far side the hill below the fortress Ehrenbreitstein resembled a cliff.

Kit could see river transport so that meant the rivers were navigable, and she admired a medieval stone bridge that crossed the Moselle; these features would be important if the city was to be the campaign’s chief supply source.

But to the men’s surprise, they spent only two days in Coblenz, just enough time for their numbers to be swelled by more Prussian and Hanoverian troops, and they were then ordered to cross the rivers.

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